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Birch Wathen Lenox was created in 1991 through the merger of The Birch Wathen School that was founded in 1921 by Louise Birch and Edith Wathen, and The Lenox School founded by Jessica Cosgrave Finch in 1916. The Lenox School was an all-girls school until 1974. The combined school has 500 students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Before its merger with Lenox, Birch Wathen was situated for decades in an ornate French-style building on East 71st Street across from the Frick Collection. Built in 1933 by architect Horace Trumbauer, it became a private residence in 1992.

Birch Wathen Lenox offers teams in a variety of different sports: soccer, volleyball, swimming, basketball, baseball, softball, cross country, track and field, golf, tennis, and hockey. Athletic teams fall under the Independent Schools Athletic League (New York) or the (Girls Independent School Athletic League), which are leagues in the NYSAISAA (New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association). In 2004, the boys' varsity basketball team won the New York State Championship (the "Independent" title of the New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association). In 2009 they returned to glory winning the ISAL championship. Now the ISAL is now split into two divisions, and BWL is in the Big Apple Division.